User:Segovax

Gallic Sack of Rome

Around 390 B.C., many tribes of Gauls and other celts were displaced by migrating Germanic tribes. This led the Gauls to cross into the Italian peninsula, mostly around the Po river valley. The people who had already settled in that region, the Etruscans, were also displaced.

Some tribes of Gauls were more flexible around these Etruscans, and were able to coexist with them. Other Gauls, however, were not so friendly, and took Etruscan settlements by force, rather than building their own towns. The Etruscans had been living in these areas in and around the Po valley for some ages by this time period, and had developed a rich culture, full of great technology and practical ways of living. The Gauls, too, were no barbarians but an intricate people, also full of practicality. Even though the Gauls were smart, they were also fierce, and had a much different culture than that of the northern Italians. As said, the Gauls were taking over Etruscan settlements and displacing many people.

There was one Gallic tribe, the Semones, that was ruled by a man named Brennus. Brennus is called an ignorant barbarian by such historians as Livy, Polybius, and Didorus Siculus, but in fact was a leader of a very inricate,though fierce, tribe. Despite Brennus' prospects, his tribe was still very warlike, and would show their greatest ferocity against a southern Italian people who had established themselves around a province called Latium. Their capital was located around seven circuling hills, and was named Roma. The agressive people who inhabited this area were, of course, the Romans. And they were about to get a huge surprise.